FA Cup Final: City v Wigan in numbers

Adam Carter from statistical wizards and must-follow on Twitter @StatCity previews the FA Cup Final against Wigan.

Manchester City will be contesting their 10th FA Cup final this weekend, when they face Wigan Athletic at Wembley Stadium. The Blues are one of only nine teams to reach the FA Cup final ten times. If City are victorious on Saturday, it will be the first time they have won the cup without the need for a single replay along the way.

Saturday’s opponents Wigan Athletic, who are currently involved in a relegation dogfight in the Barclays Premier League, will be hoping to cause an upset that could possibly spark their league campaign into life and carry them over the finish line.

The two sides are meeting for only the 26th time in all competitions. The Blues have been victorious on 14 occasions (56.00%), drawn 5 (20.00%) and lost 6 (24.00%). The pair have met twice before in the FA Cup, with both games ending 1-0 in the Citizens’ favour (1976 and 2006).

City have outscored Wigan Athletic by 29 goals (1.16 gpg) to 17 (0.68 gpg) and have scored in each of their last ten games against the Latics. The Blues have kept 15 clean sheets (60.00%) against Wigan Athletic, including the last 7 games in a row, a run stretching back to 2009 which saw Charles N’Zogbia netting in the 45th minute at the DW Stadium. The Citizens have only failed to score against Wigan on 5 occasions (20.00%) in all competitions. This is also the first time that the pair are meeting on neutral soil.

Blues boss Roberto Mancini has an excellent record in the FA Cup, having only lost twice in the previous 18 matches (11.11%) that he has been in charge of. City have scored a whopping 42 goals (2.33 gpg) under the Italian in this competition having only scored 40 goals (1.15 gpg) in the previous 26 FA Cup matches before Roberto’s arrival! The Blues have conceded a mere 15 goals (0.83 gpg) under Mancini, and just the single goal during this current campaign (Demba Ba’s impressive scissor kick in the semi-final in the previous round). What’s more impressive is the fact that City have never failed to score a goal in an FA Cup match managed by Roberto Mancini and are just as ruthless at the other end of the pitch having conceded just 4 goals in their last 11 matches in this competition (0.36 gpg).

The ‘New Wembley’ has become somewhat of a familiar stomping ground for City in recent years, with the Blues having appeared at the stadium 4 times in the last 3 years. The City faithful will be hoping to make it 6 appearances come August where Manchester United and new manager David Moyes lie in wait for this weekend’s victors in the traditional curtain raiser, the Community Shield.